Accounting in the Age of Social Distancing

May 31, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed almost everything about our way of life — particularly our work lives. Many have had to switch to working from home or at least drastically cutting down their office staff in order to slow the spread and protect themselves from COVID-19. Social distancing has become the name of the game…which has changed the way accounting works for many. While some might have had in-house accounting before the pandemic, accounting has had to adapt to these more isolating times.

More Virtual Services

Over the past year, we’ve all become experts when it comes to the Zoom meeting or slack groups. It’s probably no surprise if you’ve met with your accountant a few times over video chat. Fortunately, there was already an emerging trend in accounting towards cloud-based services. These services allow the whole accounting team to access all the information they need even from outside of the office. Because it’s all stored in the cloud, they can log in from any device, punch the numbers, and get back to their day. These cloud-based accounting services have been a boon over the course of the pandemic. 

More Outsourcing

While in-house accounting teams may have been the norm before, we’ve been seeing a push towards outsourcing in the past few years, and especially since COVID-19 hit. With the pandemic came a huge financial blow for business owners and many have found themselves struggling to stay open, especially small to medium businesses. Unfortunately, this has led to layoffs and cutting down teams in order to make ends meet. Many businesses already turned to outsourced teams in order to save money, and over the past two years, outsourcing accounting has become a saving grace for many businesses.

More Freelancers

As stated above, financial pressures have caused some businesses to switch from in-house accounting services to outsourcing their accounting services. But what happens to those accountants who were on the in-house team? Some of them are finding new careers as freelancers. Rather than working for an accounting firm or working within the accounting department of a business, these freelancers can work for businesses as an independent contractor, while remaining their own boss ultimately. It also allows more freedom of scheduling and the ability to work from home, which are both important with current social distancing.

Now halfway through 2021, we’re beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel for the COVID-19 pandemic, but chances are businesses have been changed for good in some ways. Particularly in terms of moving towards outsourced, cloud-based accounting. At Bottom Line Consulting, we have highly trained accountants when it comes to Quickbooks, both local and cloud services. Let us help you with your accounting needs in the post-COVID world. Contact Bottom Line Consulting today to learn more or to get started.